Also, if you find this to be of use, please tell friends about rewarding-fundraising-ideas.com at Facebook and Twitter, or (if you have one) in your blog, or website,
etc.

Issue #004 - 13 March 2012

Find Out Your Supporters' Needs - Run a Survey:

Last month I read a superb article on Four Things your Supporters Want by Katya Andreson on her Non-Profit Marketing Blog (Grab Katya's excellent Non-Profit Marketing book here). Her article got me thinking about how as a fundraising cause you need to cater for your supporters needs to keep a healthy relationship with them...

And when I say your supporter's needs, I'm not meaning their needs in a general sense; I'm taking about what they need from you. For example your supporters may simply want to be shown gratitude for their donations... Something like a simple hand written letter.

A
hand written letter makes them feel appreciated and therefore they will be willing to support again come next time around because there needs from you were fulfilled. Understand what I'm getting at.

Now obviously that was a real simple example, and depending on your organization, you're supporters needs will be different. And here's the thing, I can't tell you what their needs are... Only they can!

And the only way that you'll find this out is by asking them.

This is where a Survey comes in...

Surveys are a great way to find out more about your supporters. You can set one up on your website, and/or on your Facebook page. You can mail it to your mail and email lists. You can do it over the phone.

Or you could even ask a single survey question in your Newsletter every month!

Don't make your surveys to long and make sure you thank everyone at
the top of the survey before they fill it out.

Some questions you could ask would be...

What information do you expect to receive as a donor?

Was the donation process easy to do? And how could we make it easier for you and other donors to complete?

When you donated to (your groups name), where you thanked properly? And if not, how could we show our appreciation better?

Always leave the last question free for the supporter to add any extra notes or thoughts that they think are important.

And finally...

Finish off by analysing...

The information you received back from your surveys. You should now have a better idea of who your supporters are and what their needs are!